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Monday, 31 December 2012

The start of a new year is good inspiration for many people to begin their journey towards new (or existing) goals. I am one of those people too. Goals give me purpose and I like ticking things off a list once completed. Here then, are my goals for 2013 - though as I did in 2012, my goals will be reviewed regularly and will not get in the way of other stuff that comes along in the weeks and months to come. Life does, as we all know, get busy. And as someone commented on a recent blog of mine, as long as I'm having fun....that is the main thing.

#1 Run 10km in under 50 minutes (currently at around 58mins though haven't particularly tried to go fast).

There have been a couple of blips along the way. Ones of note are that in July I tweaked my left knee and in October I tweaked my right knee. At the end of July/early August I was in London at the Olympics and training obviously dropped off due to a combination of long days and general tiredness. In November my knee issue pretty much wiped me out. With rehab and lots of massage/foam rollering I took the option to rest and have a recovery period. It worked, because in December I was feeling strong for the first three weeks, then the lurgy struck which seems to have been affecting all around me - nothing significant but enough to cause me to slow down. Then with Christmas and visitors etc a few runs were missed.

Lots of water flowing out of Bottoms Reservoir on 30 December run from Glossop to Tintwistle - the fields were very soggy

It's good having stats and a diary to look back over. I can see from my weekly totals that a good total weekly distance for me is between 40km-50km. Both times I've been around, or gone over 60km has been immediately prior to one of my knee tweaks. So my decision for 2013 is to not only be consistent with my training, but to keep a watchful eye on the weekly totals. It's really tempting to get out on the hills at the weekends for 3hrs+, but if that is going to push me over what seems to be a sustainable total distance it's just not worth it. Either that, or I'll cut back during the week to allow myself more distance on a long weekend run.

Sunday, 30 December 2012

It was back in December 2011 when I set myself the following aspirations for this year:#1 - 24 GDH runs#2 - run 3 fell races#3 - cover 25km in one go#4 - 10 body weight chin upsI did a review at the halfway point - here's the blog link to that. And here's a few comments on what I did achieve:#1 - I never got myself back into the swing of club runs after the Olympics, a combination of my training plans not matching what the club was doing and more lately my choice to run in the daytime rather than at night. I really enjoy being in the hills to see the scenery and wildlife and running by headtorch, however good the torch is, just isn't what motivates me. #2 - achieved and beat my aim by running six races. I'm really pleased with the races I did. In June I started a training programme specifically for my running and that meant (to start with) that I wouldn't be racing. I didn't mind too much, and to be honest I've not missed racing. I like the social aspect of it, and the fact that it pushes you to work harder so I will be doing some more races in 2013 (more on that in another blog to follow). I did have plans to do the Dark & White mini mountain marathon in mid-December but the date clashed with a trip to Scotland. I definitely prefer doing the orienteering races so will be scanning the FRA calendar for local races to get in the diary.#3 - achieved in June when I ran from Glossop to Hope - here's the blog to that run.#4 - as I said in the halfway blog, I reached seven and never seemed to get into consistent training but I will do better next year. I only really have myself to blame for not achieving this aim, but sometimes life gets busy and I won't be dwelling on this.

Highlights of the year......running to Hope from Glossop. I was a great day out and I had the pleasure of sharing it with good company. I did also really enjoy the run over to Chinley for the beer festival, and not just because of the beer! Obviously the Olympics were just superb, how could they not be.

Tuesday, 18 December 2012

We've just had a weekend in the Cairngorms.....and we had snow which was good since we were up there to help a friend who's brushing up on her mountain skills for a looming winter mountain leader assessment. Here's a few photographs from the trip - some taken on my phone so the quality isn't great.

Reindeer just wandering past us...amazing.

then they got inquisitive....and came even closer.

me being assisted up the steep bit thanks to Caroline's kick steps and Mike's helping hand

Me all togged up against the cold.

Going through the Chalamain gap - boulders strewn everywhere and covered in snow and ice

The Lazy Duck Hostel - highly recommend this place if you're ever near Aviemore

Tuesday, 11 December 2012

I had a delightful fell run today up onto Bleaklow with a fellow Glossopdale runner and her daughter - and it was a wonderful run for her first time on the fells. Our route took us up from Glossop via Lightside, Yellowslacks and Dog Rock then across Dowstone Clough and to 621 trig at Higher Shelf Stones...then down via James Thorn, Shelf Benches and Mossy Lea. Conditions underfoot were lovely, crisp and crunchy with some solid chunks of snow still there from last week. We even had a delightful glimpse of a mountain hare bouncing across the frozen terrain. Here's a few photographs:

Running towards Dog Rock

our three shadows

the route across from Dowstone to the trig was directly into the sun - almost a perfect natural bearing

Friday, 7 December 2012

That's right. I've got new shoes. I bought road shoes from a certain running shop a while ago and had a £25 voucher to use before the end of the year....well it's taken me until now to get back there and buy some. That's mainly because I have quite a few pairs of other shoes and didn't need more. But, the deed is done and I have a fine pair of Kanadia TR4's. They wouldn't be my first choice of trail shoe as they are a lot more built up on the sole than my normal INOV8 Roclites. But, the said shop no longer stocks INOV8's and I couldn't waste the voucher.

brand new Kanadia TR4's

The grip doesn't seem as sticky as INOV8s, but the only way to know for sure is to get out there and try them.

grip not performing well on the frozen grass - but then neither would any of my other shoes!

The ice certainly made for a very steady 7km hour long run, but it was good to get out and see the sunlight just reaching the top of James Thorn and the southern edge of Bleaklow. There was one point where I had to cross a track, normally just a tarmac strip with a couple of steps and no thought about it - today was a different matter. The whole track was one long strip of verglas ice. My tactic for crossing this 2.5m wide section - down on my knees and slide across!! It might not have been elegant but I didn't fall over, and it made me smile.

I really just wanted to carry on and get up there in the snow but with clients expected the top of the hills will have to wait this time. I'm also not sure the Kanadia's would be up for the conditions up there, I'd feel much more confident in mudclaws and some katoolas in my bumbag.

Thursday, 6 December 2012

I signed up for the Walking Group Leaders Award in July 2011 and have steadily been gaining 'quality hill days' since. I've lived and walked around the Peak District for many years and know what a joy it is to get out and see nature close up. What I've discovered though, is that I don't know anywhere near as much as I should do to pass the WGL assessment, so I've started actively learning about flora and fauna, geology, weather and general hill skills.

I'm not entirely sure where the qualification will take me yet, that is aside from self development, gaining knowledge, confidence in the hills, and of course the obvious one of being able to lead groups (but the type of groups/activities is incredibly vast). Give my lengthy relationship with the local area I'm actually embarrassed by my lack of in depth knowledge of my surroundings. Having given this some thought, it's spurred me on to learn more and lay down some thoughts about what I might do once qualified. More about that another time.

I have no-one really to blame for my knowledge gap. But I do feel that something was lacking or could have been done better to inspire me in this direction when I used to nip up Win Hill or Lose Hill in the Hope Valley after school. Why did no-one tell me there were Pixie Cups tucked in between rocks, or that you can use the wind direction and sun to aid navigation?

So it is with some excitement that I have begun my education and fact finding, rather than letting things just wash over me or appear, then disappear once passed. I have lots of friends around me to inspire this journey which is great. I will be tapping them for hill days and photography sessions of the myriad of lichens and mosses and everything else. I have a renewed vigour for spring - and this winter will see me with my head stuck in books (as well as on the hill) seeking out what delights are going to sprout on the local fells come the warmer weather.

Here's my first challenge - identifying this fungi. Found this little fella lurking in some moss (another one to correctly identify - sphagnum moss?) on the south facing slope under James Thorn the other day.

Tuesday, 4 December 2012

My training programme had me scheduled for 1.5hrs on the hills today, come rain or shine....or snow as it turned out! Here's a few photos from the run, but first a word on gear:

A bit about the gear: given that it was snowing on the tops, and down in Glossop there'd been fluttering showers of the white stuff, I opted to take some additional kit with me, even though I was only planning to be out for 1.5hrs. Bleaklow gets its reputation for a reason. So in my little 5.5ltr rucksack I took a running compass, inhaler (for asthma), waterproof pouch for phone (which includes some cash and emergency contact details), chocolate bar, geobar, thin gloves, spare thicker gloves, windproof beanie, buff (not shown as it was already round my neck), emergency bivi bag, torch, arcteryx insulation jacket which would get stuffed in the blue waterproof bag with spare gloves, and finally waterproof trousers.
I'm used to running with this rucksack and the weight doesn't bother me. To be honest I hardly notice it. In addition, I was wearing a base layer vest, thermal base layer, long tights+shorts, mudclaws and an OMM Kamelika smock. I run hot but like to be on the toasty side rather than cold. If I get cold it gets painful, so I'd rather be hot.

Cloud enveloping the top of Shelf Benches on the approach to Mossy Lea Farm.

I ran along the footpath in the valley bottom - along side Shelf Brook - to the footbridge at the bottom of Doctors Gate. Turning north I climbed up the steep hillside to pick up a trod up to the summit of James Thorn. This photo is looking back, vaguely south over to Coldharbour Moor.

first snow of the 2012 winter for my mudclaws

looking back across to Coldharbour Moor...a bit more snow under foot and the clouds just kissing the tops

somewhere in there is Higher Shelf Stones and 621 trig

guess where I came from...?!

and this is where I'm heading

James Thorn memorial stone - reached it just as the cloud lifted momentarily, view back towards Glossop

Me with Bleaklow behind....looking...errr....bleak.

Heading down to Spring Cabin with Shelf Benches to the right

It was a great run, I stayed surprisingly dry except for my feet, and came home feeling good. November was a month of little running - mostly rehabing a slight knee/ITB tweek, so it was good to get out on the fells and (almost literally) blow the cobwebs away. My knee feels strong and my lungs seem to have behaved fairly well after being kickstarted into action last week with a few easy road runs.